Women's Champions League Performance Insights: How Lyon's defensive discipline helped protect their winning advantage over Arsenal
mardi 22 avril 2025
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UEFA Technical Observer Jayne Ludlow highlights how Lyon's defensive discipline played a key role in their 2-1 victory over Arsenal in the first-leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final.
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Lyon go into the second leg of their UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final tie against Arsenal on Sunday with a 2-1 advantage after goals from Kadidiatou Diani and Melchie Dumornay proved crucial in the first-leg in London.
However, Joe Montemurro's side did not have it all their own way during the tie. The French side faced long spells of Arsenal pressure and had to produce an excellent defensive performance to ensure they finished the game with a winning advantage.
Individual defensive excellence
In London, Lyon adopted a coordinated defensive strategy with the aim of forcing Arsenal into wide areas. With the ball locked on to one side of the pitch, the visiting team were quick to apply pressure and displayed excellent 1v1 defending skills, as demonstrated throughout the game by Lyon right-back Ellie Carpenter.
"To defend effectively 1v1 as a full-back you need excellent awareness of the defensive situation," explains UEFA Technical Observer Jayne Ludlow. "You need to know which area of the pitch you're in, the trends of the opponent and any support movements."
In the above clip, Carpenter adopts an effective body position which allows her to react quickly to the movement of her opponent. Linked with this, the full-back demonstrates patience and waits for the right moment to try and win the ball.
"Patience is key in these moments," adds Ludlow. "Full-backs have to wait for the right moment to engage and intercept and this changes whether you are inside or outside the box. They also need the speed and agility to track the movements of their opponent and be able to delay their attack. When it does come to engaging, they have to be aggressive and use strength to unbalance the opponent."
Effectively delaying an attacker in a 1v1 scenario also gives time for defensive cover to be provided. Lyon were excellent in getting a high number of players around the ball and regularly provided cover in wide areas.
Protecting the centre of the pitch and covering outside
With Arsenal's wide attackers regularly drifting inside into pockets of space, Lyon's full-backs had to decide whether to stay or go. In the clip above, we see how full-back Carpenter is quick to move in-field to provide pressure on the receiving player with central midfielder Lindsey Heaps recognising the need to move from the middle of the pitch to provide cover in the wide area.
"Defensive midfielders must have the willingness to run as well as the knowledge of positional roles and responsibilities based on the game plan," explains Ludlow. "We saw Lyon's midfielders willing to track and block runners, make recovery runs and defend the box effectively."
There was further evidence of Lyon's effective defensive relationships in the way Heaps and fellow defensive midfielder Damaris Egurrola routinely moved together when out of possession. The midfield pair worked in tandem maintaining their defensive distances to ensure Arsenal could not penetrate centrally.
"To play in the way Lyon did, their midfielders had to show 360 degree awareness," added Ludlow. "They were always making constant adjustments as the ball moved. Added to this, they were communicating all the time to ensure they screened in front of their back line. They were also reading the triggers of the opposition in order to get the timing of their press right and to make their move to pinch the ball or press an opponent."
Lyon's overall defensive compactness
Lyon's effectiveness in individual and unit defending added up to an excellent overall defensive performance. Montemurro's side were quick to recover into a compact defensive shape adopting effective distances between individuals and units. With the French side regularly outnumbering their opponents in certain areas of the pitch, it proved difficult for Arsenal to play through their shape.
"Throughout this tie Lyon showed good defensive discipline as individuals, units and together as a whole. What was impressive was how there was cover and support in all the key defensive areas. We saw how the central midfielders were aware of the threat in wide areas and were quick to offer cover and support if the full-back moved out of position. There was also protection for the back line with midfielders adopted screening positions or dropping into the back line."
Coaching considerations: How to make your team as compact as Lyon
Coaches should work with both individuals and units to help their team develop a co-ordinated defensive approach like Lyon, says Ludlow.
"There is so much work a coach can do with individuals in terms of defending. Pressing as an individual would consist of: awareness of the nearest player; reading triggers; speed of press; pinching the ball when it moves; angles of press to force play; and slowing down to delay effectively.
"Then there is delaying until the moment to engage; aggressive 1v1 defending and blocking; as well as recovery defending.
"When you start to look at pressing as a team coaches should look at the following with their players: body shape; marking on the ball side and goal side of the nearest opponent; marking distances relative to position of the ball; awareness of player and ball movement; communication with team-mates; and reaction to press.
"Developing these skills should be progressed with clear roles and responsibilities of nearest supporting players. Coaches can do this in small to large number practices with increasing area sizes. This should be done over a period of time whilst always checking player understanding and decision making."
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